The moral of this story? “A man without hope is a man without fear.” more ›

Former Cook County patronage worker Tony Cole spoke to the press yesterday about his frustrations with how he's been treated by Todd Stroger, his friends and his family in the wake of the county's most recent hiring scandal. "President Stroger should have never fired me," Cole told the Sun-Times. "He wasn't my father. He wasn't my dad he just gave me an opportunity," Cole told ABC7. more ›

Tony Cole, the former steakhouse busboy that county board president Todd Stroger hired to a $60,000 a year county job in spite of his felony convictions for check fraud, is back in the news. According to an investigation conducted by the Sun-Times, Cole continued to get paid by the county for time his spent in jail (the Cook County jail, no less!) between Nov. 19 and Nov. 21. Cole was incarcerated for violating the terms of an order of protection against an ex-girlfriend. more ›

County Commissioner Tim Schneider tried to publicly ask Board President Todd Stroger about the ongoing Donna Dunnings-Tony Cole controversy last week. Stroger told Schneider that he's meet with him privately to answer any questions he might have. That meeting has yet to happen, the Sun-Times is reporting. more ›

Todd Stroger's figured out that he may be in some deep trouble come election day in Cook County. There are myriad reasons for this, from the exorbitant tax hikes we've suffered to the lack of quality county services we're ostensibly paying for, to the sheer arrogance of his administration as they've filled the county's payroll with friends and family while calling critics racists. But Stroger isn't worried about any of that, at least not if his latest series of personnel moves are any indication. To wit, Stroger personally hired convicted check-kiter and one-time steakhouse busboy Tony Cole. Cole, who was convicted of writing bad checks in Georgia, was hired as a $58,000-a-year administrative assistant in the budget department and later promoted to a $61,000-a-year human resources assistant posistion in the highway department. Stroger fired Cole when the Sun-Times revealed the conviction. Late last week Stroger fired his Chief Financial Officer and cousin, Donna Dunnings, because of "explosive" and "not flattering" allegations that Cole made, which Stroger felt would interfere with her ability to do her job. more ›

County Board President Todd Stroger, who's just getting started on his "I am sorry; please vote for me next year" tour, has requested and accepted the resignation of his Chief Financial Officer and cousin, Donna Dunnings. Dunnings resigned over the fallout from the revelations of the recent firing of a patronage worker who had a felony check-kiting conviction on his record. Stroger's not talking details, but he told the Tribune in a phone interview that the fired worker is making "explosive" and "not flattering" allegations against Dunnings that could hurt her ability to do her job. It took the hiring and firing of a convicted felon to tender Dunnings's resignation? that was all? more ›

Cook County's Chief Financial Officer Donna Dunnings -- who is Cook County President Todd Stroger's cousin, as well as a fan of big, fat raises during a supposed budget crunch -- caused a stir on Thursday when she flipped off the Sheriff's Department budget director in the middle of a meeting. The director, Alexis Herrera, previously worked for Dunnings, and they reportedly had a "tense" conversation in a hallway prior to the meeting that Sun-Times sources say "was peppered with profanity and finger-pointing by Dunnings." more ›

Fresh off a mountain of controversy about her huge raise, Cook County's Chief Financial Officer (and Todd Stroger's cousin) Donna Dunnings is saying that the county won't have enough funds to operate. In spite of the recent sales tax increase that will generate more than $400 million for the county, "that structural deficit is living and breathing, and the sales tax is by no means the answer to that.... So, we have to look at other revenues, as well as cost containment,” Dunnings told a crowd of supporters and colleagues at the City Club of Chicago. more ›

Yesterday's Sun Times headline was all about the 12 percent pay hike Donna Dunnings - Todd Stroger's cousin and just one of many beneficiaries of Cook County's Friends and Family Plan - got out of the new 2008 county budget. When Stroger hired Dunnings, they both bragged that her salary would be far less than the previous CFO. more ›